Charlotte Mason Maths
Charlotte Mason wanted people to study Maths for it’s “own sake and not as they make for general intelligence and grasp of mind.”
She did feel it was necessary and that it requires the child’s full attention.
For this we rely on short lessons and lots of ‘hands on’ maths fun!
For both my older children (age 7 & 9) I have printed off a free on-line (AO approved) mathematics enhancement programme, I use this to suit our needs, I pick and choose various problems for them to work on and we take our time.
We’re not rushing through a work book, we’re learning skills for life
The primary programme is great; stock up on printer ink and check out the beautiful posters and printable resources.
As well as this I plan my own maths lessons with ‘counters’, Charlotte liked her students to use beans, buttons etc. I haven’t quite collected enough of those for my little learners yet but I have got cubes and counters a plenty!
Mary Everest Boole’s advice in Charlotte Mason’s parents’ review (September 1893) was that
No child should use a multiplication table until he has made one
So we’re making one!
The message is take your time, do short lessons and have fun!
Micah (aged 3) made this; this is our family in size order – I thought this was pretty clever and showed his understanding of ‘bigger and smaller’ and he also put them in descending order; I haven’t taught him this, this is learnt through play and being around his family a lot!
Counting out bun cases and baking – learning Maths through life, we need it everyday!
This week I set them the task of measuring items around our cabin, they made a list of one to ten on a piece of paper, wrote down the name of the item and how many centimetres & millimeters it measured
Joel figuring out the pattern for odd and even numbers with
coloured cubes and a fun (free) printable
So what do you do for Maths Charlotte Mason Mama’s? I love to hear your ideas!
Have a fun learning day, blessings
Leah
Home Grown Babies 
Thanks for the very visual practical post for the carnival. 🙂
Thank you for your encouragement – I’m learning and sharing along the way!
What wonderful ideas, Leah! I found your blog via the carnival and I’m your newest follower. We are new to the CM method of education(this is our first year), but we are loving every step along the way. And we are considering using the AO curriculum next year.
Many blessings,
Lisa
Thank you for your comment Lisa! There is so much to learn about using the CM methods but the journey is so rich for Mum/teacher and students, we still feel ‘new’ but are loving every minute. Thanks for following, hope we can help *your* journey! Leah
Hi again, Lisa,
I was just wondering if you use only the math printables for your 7 and 9 year olds, or do you use to supplement a math curriculum?
Many blessings,
Lisa
oops…I meant to say “use the printables to supplement another Math curriculum”.
I use the maths programme that I mention in the post as my base line but look around for other great resources to aid what i’m already teaching them…and some just for fun!
Ahhh great idea to make a multiplication table before you use it! I am going to do that with my boys next year. We started using the japanese abacus last year becaus eit is hands on friendly to little boys. It has turned out to be one of the best ways to move into double digit and tripple digit addition and subtraction. The ideas of carrying and borrowing are visual and hands on. We also are reading Mathematicians are people too! Vol. 1 this year and Vol. 2 next. Thanks for posting your ideas!